Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

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Cover artwork: Green Park by Robert Buhler (1916-1989)Royal Academy of Arts, London

Reviews

'Ronald Corp has few rivals in conveying one prerequisite element of this repertoire – charm' (BBC Music Magazine)

'respectfully and meticulously played … this impeccably produced program – like its three predecessors – remains a precedent-setting endeavour that is sure to elicit grateful appreciation from many quarters' (Fanfare, USA)

'The playing struck me as even finer than in the past and the sound … first class, as before' (Hi-Fi News)

'The playing is exuberant, the recording ripe' (The Evening Standard)

'This fourth compilation, in Hyperion’s hugely successful British light music is another winner … Some eighty minutes of sheer delight' (MusicWeb International)

Introduction

Ray Martin (1918–1988) was born in Vienna where he studied violin and composition at the Academy of Music and Fine Arts before moving to England in 1937. After performing in variety as a solo violin act, he enlisted in the British Army when war broke out. Being fluent in French, German and English, he was recruited for Army intelligence, and later he became a composer, arranger and musical director with the British Forces Network in Hamburg. This led to recording contracts, for which he continued to compose under a variety of names. It was as ‘Marshall Ross’ that he composed Marching Strings (1952), a piece that became widely familiar when adopted as signature tune for the hugely popular BBC radio and television programme Top of the Form. Later Martin retired to South Africa.